I had all 3 of these on the PC as a kid - started with shareware version of Duke 1 and my brother and I liked it so much we picked up the full version then later Duke 2 when it came out. When Duke 3 came out it was mind blowing, most kids that got it at the time weren’t even aware of the first few games though. No one has started playing with a mouse and keyboard yet at the time it came out - similar to doom and doom 2 we’d just use the keyboard controls. I didn’t see the mouse / keyboard until later once Quake had been out for a while. And even then, there was a running debate between the PC kids as to what was better - Duke Nukem or Quake; most often kids with the savvy or the money to have a modem and an better pc hardware/ power being into Quake for the online experience and running polygon/ true 3D effects and rendering with Duke being the superior single player gameplay experience. I’m a little disappointed that duke 3D was ported from the PS1 and doesn’t appear enhanced as the game play does appear pretty choppy from the videos. Nevertheless, I assumed going into this that the enhanced versions of the games would really be the prize here, the games that can stand the test of time vs early 3D shooters, which IMO often don’t stand the test of time. Regardless, I’ll check out Duke 3D too. I was surprised with how easily I actually acclimated to the 3rd person shooters on Duke Nukem collection 2 and I ended up enjoying those games - so I assume I’ll enjoy Duke Nukem 3D as well. Thanks the review Crow - this will be an Evercade cart that I will be picking up.
When Duke 3D came out, I knew it was the third game as I was vaguely aware of the first two, but I had never seen them before. As for keyboard + mouse controls, I remember using them with Doom because the manual specifically recommended that was the recommended control scheme. The movement keys were all different than what was standard now but when I got a copy of Duke 3D I just started playing it with mouse and keyboard. I remember only using the keyboard for FPS games before Doom though, like Wolfenstein 3D and Blake Stone. (Blake Stone and Doom were released around the same time, but I played Blake Stone about a year before I played Doom.)
Excellent review! Happy to see you stuck with Duke 2 and found it enjoyable after adapting to the differences. Many people seem to dismiss it too quickly based on their initial experience from what I've seen.
I like the cart, but besides it being a cool novelty, I'm not a fan at all of PS1 era FPS titles. I know, they're a product of the time, but I didn't like them back in the day either. They just look and feel really wonky to me, I've played the PS1 Nuke em for a couple of levels, but it just doesn't interest me more than that. It'd be pretty cool if Evercade released some of the superior N64 Duke Nukem titles. The Duke 1+2 remasters are absolutely awesome though, and really make the cart worth purchasing.
Straight killer app for the Evercade for me. I'd love to see more of this kind of thing for more dos games that have had new engines build around them. Hell, shove Crystal Caves, Secret Agent, and (maybe) Monster Bash HD in a triple pack and i'd be thrilled.
This is such a great cart, and great review too! Good luck with the second one - I’m waiting for a replacement cart after the latest firmware update killed mine!
Whenever I jump it makes that exact same sound from Duke Nukem 1, a reverberating electronic _zap:_ people at the gym ask me to keep both feet on the ground.
So weird to see the cutscene graphics without the red skinned characters... I know why they did it but it still would be cool to have the option to play it as it was.
As a Mac user nowadays (its my choice lol, screw Windows) it helps to have ways to play DOS games. I do want this collection and its second wave pack with Advance. But my biggest concern is the carts themselves. A lot of people have talked about cartridges not working properly. I’ll try to buy these two before they hit legacy status and rise to $100+ like the Oliver Twins Collection, but I can’t help but have that worried feeling.
It probably has something to do with the fact the carts are not read only, so any of the data on the cart can be rewritten, whether it's on purpose or not. The issue could happen with any Evercade cart, but I think the issue may me more noticeable on carts with bigger games simply because they are bigger. I think the corruption may happen when the cart is being written to when the power is shut off, or if the cart isn't fully inserted correctly.
I think they got greedy splitting the two carts, they could have easily added all games onto 1 cart or just get rid of 1 game such as duke nukem advance, I feel it is bad value for just a few games each
My ignorant opinion: (1) worth it for the music, (2) not worth it for any other reason. I do not own the cart and I haven't played it, but I assume a huge percentage of the entertainment value would be the combination of that music and those (intentionally low quality) zapping noises.
